Shadows of the Past
by Uncle Remus
Summary: In the far future Ruler's authority is unquestionable, but 7 young kids are going to change that with some help from the ghosts of the digidestined. Part 3 of the Minuteman Saga.
1. Prologue

Adjuststed Terran year: 14006 A.D. EarthDate: 4.0.2.1..6 Somewhere in the former U.S. of A.  
  
"Hey Jimmy, I've got a question." "Shoot." "I've noticed that noone in this school salutes pictures of The Ruler like we're supposed to. In fact, I haven't seen a single picture of The Ruler to salute." "Ray, you're new here, so you don't know yet that almost nobody here believes that The Ruler has any right to rule. Just go with the flow and you'll be fine." "Anyway, who's this 'Terise' guy I've been hearing so much about?" "You'll see, c'mon he's fighting Billy in about five minutes," then, noticing his new friend's look of confusion, he added "Billy's the worst bully in all of Sector 4." When they got there, the fight had already begun, and Terise, for it had to be him in the obviously Jamaican clothes, was losing horribly. The newcomer turned to his guide and said, "I thought you said Terise's nickname was 'The Rock', he's fighting like a wimp." "You just don't get it. We don't call him Terise the Rock as in the pro wrestler of the late 20th century, we call him Terise the Rock as in Paul, the rock of faith. To give you an example, Terise is in this fight because Billy stole lunch money from a kid neither one of them had ever seen before.  
  
Just when it seemed like Terise was a goner, someone stepped out from the crowd and asked, "You need some help, bro?" the reply to which was a faint "Ya man." "Who's that?" "That's Gary, he and Terise are best friends." "So why's he volunteering for a beating?" "Well for one, he's Terise's best friend and two, Gary's lives by the rule that discretion is a sin." "You never learn, do you Gary. If you'd just followed that uppercut with a roundhouse, you'd've already won." "That's May, tactician extraordinare, and expert on all things military. She can recognize the silouette of any plane, tank, or ship, and give you the play-by-play of every battle ever, from Agincourt to Argonne Forest."  
  
"Well Billy, it looks like you finally took on more people than you can fight. Now it's our turn to do the ass-beating." "And that is?" "Chris." Jimmy said, pointing to a blonde guy wearing faded jeans, a worn jacket with 80's style flames, and a t-shirt that read: Tell your mom I said thanks. "Chris always speaks his mind, and if he doesn't think that something's true, he won't think twice about not saying it." A few seconds later, a girl wearing sandals and 3 different peace-symbol necklaces joined the group of people facing Bily. "That must be that hippie girl, Sam. She's sure got guts." "Why?" "You may have forgotten way out here in the boondocks, but hippie culture's been outlawed because of its support of peace. Speaking of peace, why is she ready to fight Billy?" "Rumor has it she's got a major crush on Gary." "Ahh, that explains it."  
  
The growing force opposing Billy worried him a little, but he was still ready to fight because he knew that almost none of them were skilled fighters, and besides, he could count on his friends to back him up if necessary. His attitude changed when a cold-faced boy wearing expensive clothes showed up with a posse of about 12 thugs. The patch on their shoulders identified them as Junior Enforcers (AN: kinda like the Hitler Youth, but with authority over their peers). "Show's over" the boy said, "Everyone go home, and Billy, if I ever see you fighting again you're goin to juve." "That's Rob, in addition to being Lieutenant of the local JE chapter, he's supposedly got a network of friends spanning 6 Sectors who are rumored to be more loyal to him than to The Ruler. That just about concludes the major players here, but-Joey, what are you doing here?" "I heard there was a fight, and I wanted to come watch." "You heard wrong, now go back to the youth home before something happens to you." "But I wanna-" "Go!" "Who was that?" "My little brother, Joey. Our parents died when he just 2, and we've been living in the local youth home ever since."  
  
Before Joey or anyone else could leave the schoolyard, artillary shells began raining down on the town. People screamed as bombs as big as semis blew them apart, but the sinister creature that was killing them cared nothing for their pain, only for the order its master had given it. After more than 10 minutes of continuous shelling, the creature left, content that it had completed its mission. No sooner had it left, however, than 7 children stepped out from the rubble, an oversight that would soon be deeply regretted. 


	2. At Last, Some Answers

UR: Before anybody can comment about the tone of this chapter: No, it's not fantasy genre and it's not meant to seem like seem like it should be fantasy genre. I simply think that certain aspects of this story should have a medival (or possibly older) feel to them.  
  
As soon as the smoke cleared, Rob pulled out a switchblade and began cutting off his patch. "What're ya doin that for, man?" "The Ruler betrayed me." he replied, standing up after he placed the patch on the body of his Sergeant, "Only a fool would continue to serve him.'' "Jimmy, no! You promised you'd never leave me, you promised!" While Sam comforted Joey, the others pondered their next move. "What do we do now?" Chris asked. "I'll tell you what we don't do," May said, "We don't stand around here like a bunch of idiots. We have no food, water or shelter, and the nearest town is miles away." "What about that old guy who lives on the edge of town?"Joey asked, "Maybe his house wasn't destroyed." "Get real, that digimon destroyed everything." "It didn't get us, so maybe it didn't get that old guy. You've surely heard the rumors about him being immortal." "That's all they are, rumors. The fact of the matter is, he doesn't exist." "Then why do I see him coming toward us right now?" Gary asked. Just as he said, a worn old man with an enormous grey beard, dressed in worn brown robes and carrying a golden staff with a pitch-black glass sphere atop it walked up to them. "Come with me, I will explain everything along the way." They followed him, if only out of lack of anything else to do. He said that the glass ball on his staff was called the Orb of Entropy, and that it contained 1,000 black holes condensed into energy which he had used to save them from the digimon, known as Imperialdramon Devil Mode, which had attacked their town. "Why only us? Why couldn't you protect our friends, our family from that thing?" "If any more people had survived, it would have noticed. You 7 have a destiny to fufill, and the element of surprise will be essential."  
  
After walking for about an hour, they came to a nearby mountain range, with an almost sheer cliff face in front of them. The old man stood defiantely before the mountain and cried out, "Open!" When nothing happened, Rob turned and started walking away, saying, "C'mon guys, we don't need this lunatic." The sound of ancient, long-unused machinery slowly pulling open the cliff caused him to freeze in his tracks. "You were saying?" the old man asked him. They walked down a short hallway into a vast room illuminated by torches that seemed almost to light themselves. Those, plus the strange carvings on the walls and ceiling and the eerie feeling that there were more people in the room than he could see, caused Joey to bolt for the entrance. "Wait!" the old man shouted, "If any you leave, you will doom your companions to failure before they even know their quest. Joey stopped to think about that statement, and while he did, the door closed. Faced with only one option, Joey reluctantly walked back to the group. As he did so, he took a good look at the chamber they were in. 10 massive pillars supported the upper portion of the wall, and there was a structure in the middle of the chamber that could only be described as an altar. Thousands of small carved symbols covered the lower wall, with a bigger design on each column and 10 huge ones on the upper wall. Surprisingly, the ceiling appeared devoid of any markings at all. "Welcome," the old man said when all seven survivors were gathered in front of him, "To the final resting place of the greatest legends that ever lived, the Digidestined." 


End file.
